1. Filed of Invention
This invention relates to a motor vehicle with a control means and with at least one sensor which is electrically connected to the control means.
2. Description of Related Art
German Patent Application DE 196 32 915 A1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,991, forms the starting point of this invention and discloses a motor vehicle locking system of a motor vehicle. The motor vehicle locking system has a control means and a motor vehicle lock. The motor vehicle lock is made as a so-called electric lock in which a ratchet for opening the latch of the motor vehicle lock can be lifted by means of an electrical drive. A microswitch which is necessarily made as a double throw momentary contact switch and which is connected to the control means is assigned to the ratchet as the sensor for detecting the state of the ratchet.
Furthermore, the known motor vehicle locking system has a handle, especially an outside door handle. A microswitch which is necessarily made as a double throw momentary contact switch and which is connected to the control means is assigned to the handle as the sensor for detecting actuation.
In the known motor vehicle locking system, there is the risk that the connection which is conventionally formed by cables between the sensor and the control means can be interrupted or short circuited, for example, as a result of a cable break, accident or the like. This would lead to immediate failure of the sensor and thus to a safety risk since, for example, the motor vehicle door can no longer be opened.
At the same time, there is the danger of a malfunction of the sensor or the control means which, in the worst case, can lead to unwanted motorized lifting of the ratchet and thus opening of the motor vehicle door while driving. This malfunction can be caused, for example, by electromagnetic interference fields or by a crash situation. For an at least partially software-implemented control means, then, possibly errors in the input/output registers or unforeseeable jumps in the program execution with the corresponding unforeseeable consequences occur.